How to Securely Erase Your SSD Before Selling or Donating Your PC

When it’s time to sell or donate your old computer, you need to make sure your data is completely wiped from the hard drive or SSD. Simply deleting files or even reformatting the drive isn’t enough to prevent someone from recovering your personal information. To truly erase your drive, you need to use a secure erase method that overwrites all data multiple times.

Using Parted Magic to Securely Erase Your SSD

One of the most reliable and comprehensive tools for securely erasing an SSD is Parted Magic. It’s a bootable Linux-based utility that can erase drives using various methods, including the ATA Secure Erase command which uses a voltage spike to flush stored electrons from the drive’s cells.

To use Parted Magic to erase your SSD:

• Download the Parted Magic ISO file and burn it to a USB drive or DVD
• Boot your computer from the Parted Magic media and choose “Default settings” when prompted
• Once booted, go to Start > System Tools > Erase Disk
• Choose the “Internal:Secure Erase” option which writes zeroes to the entire data area
• Confirm the drive you want to erase on the next screen

The secure erase process can take some time depending on the size of your drive. When it’s finished, your SSD will be completely wiped and ready for a new owner.

Erasing Your SSD Using the Windows Diskpart Command

If you don’t want to use a third-party tool like Parted Magic, you can also securely erase your SSD using the built-in Windows Diskpart command. This method works even if the SSD is your computer’s boot drive, but you’ll need to boot from a Windows installation media first.

Here’s how to use Diskpart to erase your SSD:

1. Boot your computer from a Windows 10 or 11 installation disk
2. Press Shift F10 to open a command prompt
3. Type “diskpart” and press Enter
4. Type “list disk” to see a list of connected drives
5. Type “select disk [NUM]” to choose the drive you want to erase, replacing [NUM] with the disk number
6. Type “clean” to erase all data from the drive

Keep in mind that this method doesn’t erase the overprovisioned blocks of the drive, but it does erase the disk map that references them, which should be sufficient for most purposes.

Erasing Your SSD Using Your Motherboard’s BIOS

If your motherboard has a built-in secure erase feature, you can use that to erase your SSD without needing any additional software. The exact steps will vary depending on your motherboard brand and model, but the general process is:

1. Enter your motherboard’s UEFI BIOS
2. Look for a secure erase option under a tools or storage menu
3. Select your drive, choose options, and confirm

This method is the easiest if your motherboard supports it, but keep in mind that it only works if the SSD is the only drive connected to your computer.

Erasing Your SSD Using Manufacturer Software

Some SSD manufacturers provide their own software utilities that can securely erase their drives. For example, Samsung provides the Samsung Magician tool which includes a secure erase feature.

To use your SSD manufacturer’s software to erase your drive:

1. Download the software from the manufacturer’s website
2. Install the software on your computer
3. Launch the software and look for a secure erase or sanitize option
4. Select your SSD and confirm the erase process

Keep in mind that some manufacturer tools may only work with their own brand of drives, so make sure the software supports your specific SSD model.

Securely erasing your SSD before selling or donating your computer is an important step to protect your privacy and prevent data theft. By using one of the methods outlined above, you can ensure that all of your personal information is completely wiped from the drive and unrecoverable by the new owner.